I got lucky and got a Xeon E5 chip (95W TDP) from work, and I'm looking to build a quiet PC with it as a gift to myself for the holidays. I could use some help filling in the missing pieces. I'm listing below what I'm planning to get along with a few items where I need help deciding.

Case: Antec and Silverstone make the horizontal cases you'll want to look at, just helped build a setup with an SS Grandia (I think it was the GD06, HTPC build), which was waaaay too big for mini-ITX, but it might be just right for mATX. Acoustics were okay, but not a single decent horizontal case seems to be padded.

Cooler: Noctua U12P or Thermalright Macho or Scythe Mugen 3. Because 100 W TDP. If you have to have a case that requires a shorter cooler, the Noctua NH-L12 tops the SPCR chart.

Does the ASRock mobo have good fan control like Asus Fan Xpert or Gigabyte EasyTune provide, or can you control the headers with Speefan? If not, I would suggest getting a more silencing-friendly board.

Does the CPU provenly benefit from faster RAM? Are you overclocking? If not, why not save money there and buy DDR3-1600 sticks instead, maybe bump that SSD up a notch. It'll do more for performance than faster RAM ever could in a stock setup.

Case: Do you have any experience with Lian Li horizontal cases? I'm looking at the Lian Li PC-C50 and the Silverstone GD05 cases right now. By padding do you mean acoustic dampening foam? Does it make a big difference for noise (and heat?) and if so, is it hard to find it and cut it myself?

RAM: Thanks for the idea about 16000 MHz ram. I looked into some comparisons, and it looks like there is barely any difference above that speed.

Motherboard and cooling: I've looked into the fan speed features of the motherboard, and I'm a bit confused. I thought only 4 pin fan headers provide fan speed control. However, the manual suggests all of the fan headers provide speed control. I don't know about support through speedfan.

I haven't much cared for Lian Lis in the past from a performance perspective, awful air paths and silly vibration issues for something so expensive. Silent components free you up to choose from just about any case though.

Acoustic padding (usually heavy elastic mat/tile with foam on top, I think rigid layers have been introduced now too) or whatever you want to call it is usually needed as icing on the cake. It helps to kill the last bits of vibration and noise peaks and lower overall volume. It's not an absolute requirement, but why chance a perfect build when you don't have to; it doesn't compromise the budget, it doesn't compromise heat exchange, it is pure benefit bar the added weight (a necessity and not a hindrance for the able-bodied). AcoustiPack is a recognised brand: http://www.acoustiproducts.com/en/acoustipack.asp, but I would try to minimise DIY at first so you can concentrate on getting the hardware working.

Any fan can be speed controlled, the method just varies. For 2-pin and 3-pin fans it is voltage/analog control and for 4-pin fans it's PWM/digital. The main difference is that voltage control lowers the actual voltage itself and PWM uses a separate signal to "pulse" the 12 V drive. The end result is pretty much the same with some finer details that are irrelevant here.

Those shots are from the UEFI, would need to see the in-OS software used. You'll want something that allows you to set your own curves, preferrably for all the fans. If it's only BIOS/UEFI control and no curves, it's usually not good enough to achieve silence.

Examples of Fan Xpert+ in Windows here: http://imgur.com/a/9B4Eu. These days I run mine much lower, those are from when I first got the case.

PS. Speaking of my case, http://www.fractal-design.com also make horizontal cases now, see the Node series. Apparently these, for once, do have some damping/soundproofing material in them.

Thanks for the advice at the Fractal Design cases. The Node 605 may work for me. It's downsides are that it's the bigger than the Lian Li and Silverstone cases I mentioned. Also, it requires slim optical drives.

Lian Li cases look good (in pictures), and I thought that they were built well based on other opinions I've found online. The PC-C50 doesn't come with filters but you can get Lian Li filters separately. At $10, I think they are pretty expensive for what they are. As for vibration, the HD screws have silicon grommets and the top panel has a spring. I don't know anything about how effective they are.

Picture of the spring

At least compared to Silverstone GD05, I thought case layout was better designed. Lian Li moved the optical drive away from the CPU area to allow room for taller coolers. And only Lian Li has a card reader which to me makes a lot of sense for an HTPC case. Both cases have a simple design for air flow - right to left.

As for the motherboard speed controls, I found this ASRock program that can control fan speeds. It doesn't seem to have the advanced options that the Asus utility does. The downside is that the Asus mATX motherboard for X79 chipset is $70 more but doesn't have any more features I need. Can Speedfan do everything that the Asus program can?

Yeah the ASRock software looks to be barebones. Depending on the build you could make do with static fan speed or limited control (as in not fully scaling with temperature), but there are much better alternatives. Speedfan is probably the most comprehensive control software right now, see the SPCR article here: http://www.silentpcreview.com/SpeedFan. The problem with Speedfan is you have to know if the motherboard is (or rather its controller chips are) supported or not.

Speaking of motherboards, the exotic chipset is the issue. Do you need the X79 specifically or are there alternatives here? I must admit ignorance regarding Xeon CPUs. I checked socket 2011 selection and it's, well, down to this ASRock if you want smaller than full ATX.

I'll just stop dancing around the issue and say I think the Lian Li is poor value. It's 200 € over here and for that you don't even get filters, padding, wheels, a display, PSU or, well, ANYTHING. I'm not convinced the crowded internal construction with its many hard contact points won't transmit even the slightest vibrations (the linked build seemed to have pads to reduce hard contact; with WD Reds this is not the biggest issue), plus it doesn't leave room for DIY silencing. The graphics card slot is also positioned on a weird side of the very beefy mid support strut, which looks to obscure and interfere with the power connections and heatpipes/heatsink of a modern card. It's cramped, like most horizontal cases, but also with some extremely tight fits due to beefy parts. As a nitpick, the fan grills look stupidly restrictive. The CPU cooler height is the case's only plus, but even compact coolers can do well, given the correct build (see the SPCR reviews, 95 W TDP CPU). If you really need a card reader, then I guess that too, but the Lian Li is hardly the only case with one; the Node has it, other Grandia models have it, Crown models have it, the list goes on - and you can always buy a USB panel one and get a case with double 5.25" bays.

The Lian Li cases I have worked with were built "okay". Other big names can match the quality easily. The real competition is in the features, and Lian Li has had some clever ones (removable struts, bolt-on wheel kits) but also some really stupid ones (vibration contact points, restrictive grills - I think a case even used the PSU as an intake). Others have caught up quickly and usually you don't get your money's worth.

I am only a fan of the Antec P180 (RIP) and the Fractal Design Define Mini I own, so don't worry about a bias here - I'm giving you my honest, subjective opinion regarding case choice.

If you gotta have an aluminium case, or a case that looks a certain way, though, then you gotta. I can just personally think of better uses for that 100 € you would pay for the brand name and material used, as you get nothing else.

Oh, and the Silverstone cases are positive pressure, as in all-intake, not right-to-left. Makes sense in an HTPC case that doesn't get cleaned often enough while sitting in a cramped cabinet somewhere.

Yes, I guess it will be a gamble with speedfan on the ASRock board. Since I also have an i7 available I am considering maybe using that instead. Do you of any good mATX motherboards for the 1155 socket?

Which other brands do you think make really good cases? I'm deciding between the Fractal Design Node case and Silverstone case. A USB card reader fixes my main problem with the Silverstone case (though it's not as nice).

EDIT: I saw in your profile that you have the P8Z77-M Pro motherboard. Would you recommend it? Is it the best you've found?

With the 1155 socket the selection explodes compared to 2011. You can choose from any number of motherboards in micro-ATX or even mini-ITX, and there's Z77 chipsets for when you need features (mainly overclocking and multiple GPUs) and H77 for your budget builds.

The P8Z77-M Pro is good value over here and comes with Fan Xpert+, which has been good to me in my personal use. The curves can't be set as low as with Fan Xpert 2 (the Gene V for example has Fan Xpert 2), but that is the only real caveat, and should not matter if you choose the appropriate fans (lower top RPM means lower bottom RPM). Both 3-pin and 4-pin fan adjustment is supported on all but the CPU_Fan header, which is 4-pin adjustment only.

The H77 budget boards are the M Pro's value competition, but they only come with the vanilla Fan Xpert (there's "0", + and 2). For some 30% more you can buy a Fan Xpert 2 board (Gene V), but for fancier software (and a controller chip, apparently) it's questionable, if you don't need the other features of the board.

Gigabyte has some interesting models in the same price range, and apparently their EasyTune software is finally getting with the times, but you'd need product-specific reviews to confirm the capabilities. Mostly I noticed the mini-ITX boards from Gigabyte, as I recently helped build an HTPC with one. The EasyTune adjustment range on the Z77N-WIFI was good enough for the HTPC, but we had to use a PWM signal splitter because the mini-ITX motherboard only had 3 fan headers.

Regarding cases, you only need to look into SPCR reviews for your short list. Antec is arguably the pioneer of silent cases, and Silverstone and Fractal Design have followed suit. NZXT, Corsair and Cooler Master have the odd silent case in their selection, and there's exotic brands like Moneual who make special cases. Always confirm with per-product data, as none of the manufacturers have a flawless record.

My own subjective Top 3 list would be Fractal Design (solid through and through, silence-oriented, good value), Antec (heritage, advanced silencing) and Silverstone (variety in designs). All three have SPCR-approved models in their selection.

Thanks again for the help. I'm planning on a micro ATX board because I don't need the extra slots of full ATX. Mini ITX is a possibility - it has room for a video card but nothing else. Will I want to add another card in the future? In one of my old computers I had a sound card and I used a NIC once because of driver issues with the onboard LAN.

I have to do more research on mini ITX cases and how much smaller they are. The Fractal Design Node 304 (their mini-itx case) has a 19.5L case volume which to me is too similar to the Silverstone micro-atx case.

You're welcome; I thought it would be a bummer if there were no replies.

You could get by with onboard audio, many people do, but I'd urge you to get something better for an HTPC (this is an HTPC/entertainment centre, right?). Even affordable USB sound cards beat onboard chips IMO, and if you pony up for a DAC that's even better. µATX of course allows you to add in a sound card for half the cost of a DAC or less, and allows for flexibility in case the integrated hardware is not to your liking.

The problem with horizontal cases is that they're less than optimal as a format; you either get good layouts (meaning fully featured, large) or you get compact layouts (meaning compromises, leaving something out or in the way of something else). Without riser cards and with ATX PSUs the space is just too damn limited - just try flipping a tower case sideways - and there is no space between the side (bottom) panel and the motherboard tray and drive bays for cables to go into.

PS. The Lian Li is 24.2 litres, and the Antec NSK2480/Fusion is 25.8 litres. It is two litres larger BUT a proven design (SPCR Editor's Choice), and it comes with a PSU. The Node 605 is similar in size as you already know, and no PSU but has card reader.

This time around I'm going to try the optical out from the motherboard and see how my AV receiver handles the input. Maybe I won't need anything else.

For a case, I'm actually pretty happy with the mATX options and their sizes. The 21.5L Silverstone is a SPCR editors' choice, and it has nearly everything I want. It's slightly smaller than my AV receiver. It will fit a Radeon 7870 - a pretty good gaming video card. Maybe they could have moved the optical drive to a better location, but I will probably just get an external drive. 26L is still good compared to most tower styled cases - half the size of the P180, though there are smaller options now.

The AV gear might help, if the digital signal is actually processed there instead of the Realtek circuitry. As sound quality is one of the most subjective things I know, if you're currently happy with integrated, better not try to fix things. My ears just simply couldn't take Realtek sound after using SoundStorm and subsequently a sound card (no amp).

Optical can be tricky, as some software features only work with analog outputs. I know I've had trouble with mine, both on Creative sound cards and Realtek integrated sound, mostly it's stuff like normalisation or getting mixers to work correctly.

An external drive is not a bad idea at all, especially if you will only use the thing occasionally. It is slightly inconvenient compared to having everything in one unit, but as I said: compromises. You COULD use a compact cooler though, and still have that internal drive; the Scythe Big Shuriken featured in the SPCR review of the case was selected (in its 2 Rev. B form) for the HTPC build I mentioned, working very well in the limited space available.

According to the SPCR review of the 2 Rev. B, it was enough to cool an Intel Core i5-2400 with a 95 W TDP (overclocked/volted to 3.6 GHz and 1.300 V, mind!) quietly with a slim fan.

Good news! I just ordered the Silverstone GD05 case. Hopefully, it'll be in by next week.

I think Windows disables a lot of the software features for sound with a digital output. For bit-perfect output you even lose volume adjustment. Does a USB DAC have the same issues as optical out?

For the CPU cooler I was thinking about the Noctua NH-L12 instead. According to the Scythe Big Shuriken 2 Rev B. review, it needs a standard sized fan to be competitive with this Noctua. With the same fans, the Noctua is still winning in performance and is slightly shorter. I can also run the Noctua with 2 fans for better performance, but it will only fit if I don't have an internal optical drive (maybe it works slim drives).

Excellent! You can always blame the other guy now, if the case doesn't turn out perfect.

Yeah the volume adjustment was the last straw for me I think, as I use software volume control and mixers. Since I haven't used a USB DAC in my own builds, I can't say for sure how it behaves as an output device in Windows. I would assume it would use default drivers and show up as a sound card and only have one output device visible (namely itself, contra Speakers & SPDIF for cards) - that's how my USB sound cards have been, though admittedly none had optical outputs.

The Noctua is the chart champ and comes with a better mounting system (the friend who assembled the HTPC broke a screw on the Scythe kit and had trouble reseating it after changing orientation). You'd hardly be left wanting in performance, but it does come with the downside of size. Up to you. I can't see how the Noctua is shorter though; it's 66 mm even without a fan on top, and the Big Shuriken 2 is 58 mm fully assembled, according to Scythe specs, and SPCR measured the cooler at 38 mm + 12 mm fan = 50 mm (and fan is recessed a couple mm). With a standard 25 mm fan it would be +13 mm to both dimensions on the Scythe, so I guess you meant that way?

I think the point here is measured response: absolute performance matters little, if either cooler will do the job.

The slim drive bay adapters I've seen correctly position the drive at the top, leaving room below, BUT they all stupidly place the framework at the bottom, rendering the space savings moot. I'm sure there's a structural rigidity reason for it, but it's no different to mounting a regular drive at that point. Might be able to use some tin snips or a Dremel to make the necessary adjustments though...

Yeah the volume adjustment was the last straw for me I think, as I use software volume control and mixers. Since I haven't used a USB DAC in my own builds, I can't say for sure how it behaves as an output device in Windows. I would assume it would use default drivers and show up as a sound card and only have one output device visible (namely itself, contra Speakers & SPDIF for cards) - that's how my USB sound cards have been, though admittedly none had optical outputs.

I have a FiiO E10, which is a USB DAC/Amp combo. Windows installs its own native driver, which is ideal from the stability standpoint because it doesn't contain bloatware that integrated or other soundcards are known to carry. I can adjust volume using the Windows volume control as I would with my integrated sound card, although I never do anyway since anything less than 100% volume in the digital software domain would reduce resolution (unless the device is truly greater than 16-bit). It's always better to control volume at the hardware level whenever possible.

I have a FiiO E10, which is a USB DAC/Amp combo. Windows installs its own native driver, which is ideal from the stability standpoint because it doesn't contain bloatware that integrated or other soundcards are known to carry. I can adjust volume using the Windows volume control as I would with my integrated sound card, although I never do anyway since anything less than 100% volume in the digital software domain would reduce resolution (unless the device is truly greater than 16-bit). It's always better to control volume at the hardware level whenever possible.

Thanks for the heads-up! I haven't gotten any close friends to spring for USB DACs, so I've forgotten to ask people how one behaves - now I/we know.

I have followed the general principle of having maximum output as far up the chain as possible, even before I read up on why it makes such good sense on digital I/O. If I got a separate amp or DAC again, I would definitely dig out the ol' Toslink cable. Current desktop setup with Behringer MS20s is just too convenient to use via software control, as games require 100% volume (headphones, higher output tuned with inline control = less hiss), but multimedia in general is best at 6-50%. Damn people and their inability to level volume!

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